if we waited until the late train friday night on martin luther king holiday weekend, we'd see a big crowd getting off at this station. >> we had 28 reservations coming into the essex station tomorrow night. >> 28? >> correct. >> all those people could fit on one bus. right? >> it could. but that's not their choice. their choice is rail. >> reporter: guess what else is coming to vermont. even more money from u.s. taxpayers for high-speed rail. that in reality is making slow-speed rail just a little faster. >> it seems like a whole lot of money for very little improvement. what is the obama administration or transportation department have to say about this? >> well, you know, this was the first project under this high-speed rail initiative that was completed. and when it was completed, ray lahood, the transportation secretary, was out there just praising that, again, that it came in on budget, came in on time. he said it will move more goods more efishsly, create jobs for the economy up in vermont. and it did increase speeds just a little bit. but it did increase speeds. nothing was s